Field burning practices improve

As the debate over field burning raged in Salem the past couple of legislative sessions, it appears that the controversy has diminished in Union County. Increasingly Union County’s grass seed growers and other farmers who have traditionally burned their fields have been doing a better and better job of controlling when and how they burn.

The bill that was passed in the Legislature that will eliminate field burning exempted Eastern Oregon, where the problems associated with burning have become less and less noticeable.

If farmers can continue to get the kind of results they did this year, it’s unlikely there will be a push to force a ban in Union County.

Smoke management efforts over the past few years have apparently worked quite well. That, combined with more growers using propane-fueled fire rather than open burning, seems to have made a marked improvement over the years. Smoke from prescribed forest burns seems to have a bigger impact on the valley’s air quality, and they’ve never generated the controversy that field burning has. And of course neither has the long-term impact on air quality that forest fires have. Luckily, our region saw fewer of those this year.

Our farm community has been sensitive to the impacts field burning has on air quality. They’ve made great strides over the past few years to improve their practices and lessen those impacts. Those efforts are appreciated.